Hand-operated apparatuses of various kinds for working the soil by hand have always been used by man in farm work. They generally consist of an elongate connecting element, made of wood or metal, to which is connected at one of the two ends the real working tool, generally metallic, having different shapes, depending on the function to perform. The other end of the connecting element serves as a handle to allow the use of the tool.
Although, to maintain economically acceptable quantitative standards, the agricultural field is now largely mechanized, manual tools are still used in the cultivation of small parcels of land, in gardening and small home maintenance operations.
Tools of this type are also supplied in equipment kits to army personnel.
Moreover, recently the market of these tools has also turned to fields other than agriculture, such as sports, in particular mountain climbing and hiking, and in camping equipment.
Consequently, foldable hand apparatuses that can be placed in compact spaces and thus carried where they are to be used, even in remote places, are preferable over traditional ones, whose length could be a hindrance in transportation.
Prior art foldable hand apparatuses, in their most rudimental form, have a simple single joint, generally arranged on the connecting element, and can be folded so that the tool fastened at one end folds back on the other end, the one forming the handle. Unfortunately, the size of the apparatus, even when folded, is not always sufficiently compact to allow it to be easily carried, for example inside a rucksack.
To resolve this problem, the document WO96/41513 issued to Fiskars Consumer OY AB discloses a foldable hand apparatus provided with two joints: a first pin rotatably connects the tool to the connecting element, while a second pin rotatably connects the connecting element to the handle. In this manner, the size of the folded apparatus is rather compact.
One drawback found in that known solution lies in the fact that both said two joints have axes of rotation that are transversal to the connecting element and parallel to each other: in this manner, when a force is applied on the apparatus during its normal use, there is the risk that one of the two pins, particularly the second one, that is under the greater strain, yields, thus causing the tool to accidentally fold back on itself at an inappropriate moment. This problem is already pointed out in the above-mentioned document which, in fact, to avoid this problem, proposes an apparatus provided with a further element, a slidable sleeve arranged to protect and reinforce the second joint, which must be lifted to perform the actions of opening/folding the apparatus, thus making them rather complicated and time-consuming.
In addition, since the apparatus must be such as to be used by both right-handed and left-handed users, the handle has been proposed in a triangular shape and rather narrow, to contain its size: for this reason, it may be found to be not very practical for a user that grips it wearing gloves.